Here We Are Now
by Nightmares-N-Daydreams
Summary: A drunk Tony Stark encounters a certain bored God of Mischief and a night of bad decisions ensues. FrostIron. In Progress. There will be tears.
1. Chapter 1

**A drunk Tony Stark encounters a certain bored God of Mischief and a night of bad decisions ensues.**

* * *

Tony glared at the empty glass in his hand, willing it to refill. The bartender looked about ready to cut him off, but even on an empty stomach only a small amount of drunkenness had hit him yet. He let his eyes wander lazily across the hectic room. All around him, enormous smiles pressed themselves onto made-up faces; most basking in the presence of the rich and famous, all plastered out of their minds.

Tony's eyes landed on the opposite side of the room, on bright red hair that sprouted from a rather tall, slightly pale girl's head. A champagne glass balanced elegantly between her fingers as she spoke to a gentleman across from her; Tony watched her lips form themselves around the words she spoke. She smirked as she talked, seeing Tony out of the corner of her eye. It was her companion's turn to speak; the girl's eyes wandered to Tony's as she pretended to listen.

Without taking his eyes off of her, he reached to his right, picking up the glass belonging to the fellow next to him and took a sip. The girl smiled wider as Tony successfully ignored his angry neighbor. She bit her lip slightly and then moved across the room toward Tony, leaving the now confused gentleman behind. As she walked up, Tony took the last sip of his drink.

"Mr. Stark." She took a sip of her champagne.

"You have me at a disadvantage." He spoke effortlessly over the music.

"Well, of course. Who doesn't know you? A rather simple answer, I think."

"And so, I'm not allowed your name?"

"Hardly as important as Tony Stark's, is it? And it's not like you'll remember it in the morning."

"Ah, a bit presumptuous, aren't we?"

"Well, what's a girl to think? All that staring can only have so many ideas behind it."

"Might I ask what your ideas are?" Tony jumped and turned to see Loki standing next to them, a small sound recorder in his hand as he questioned the unnamed girl in front of him. A small look of surprise crossed the girl's face before she composed it into a smile, anger filling her eyes as she took her recorder back from Loki.

"And might I inquire who it is you work for?"

"New York Times." Still smiling.

"Well, Ms. New York Times. I doubt Mr. Stark has any interest in being the next subject of your vapid entertainment blog." A guess, but the vanishing smirk on the girl's face indicated that Loki had hit the nail on the head. "You can be going now." The girl glared at Loki a moment longer before turning on her heel and storming away.

Tony watched the exchange with wide eyes, the alcohol finally, although slowly working its way into his system. That wasn't good; not if it came to a brawl between him and Loki. When Loki was done, Tony looked around.

"I could have sworn I was talking to a woman a moment ago. Why'd you have to scare her off?" Tony almost pouted.

"She was out for scandal."

"You seem to be under the impression that I don't have to deal with the press every day. I've learned how to handle them." Tony paused for a moment. "This isn't Asgard…"

"It would appear not."

"Should I be getting my suit…?"

"I hardly think that's necessary." Loki answered. Tony waited for him to continue. He didn't.

"But I don't get to know why you're here?" Tony finally asked, stirring the ice around his otherwise empty glass.

"It's a party, Stark. People are here to have a good time. Why should my reasons be any different?"

"Maybe because you're supposed to be locked up in Asgard?"

"Well, that was hardly any fun at all. Any mischief to be made there fell completely flat. No sense of humor, those guards."

"Is that what taking over Earth was to you? A stunt to—to entertain yourself?" Tony's words slurred together slightly. Something flashed in Loki's eyes as he took in the man in front of him.

"That's all anything is to me, Stark." A vicious smirk spread across Loki's face. A partygoer passed behind the two, knocking Loki into Tony. The smirk widened as Loki slowly took the empty glass from Tony's hand and reached behind him to place the glass on the bar, his mouth close to Tony's ear. "So why not entertain me?"

"I—"

Before Tony could finish his response, Loki's hand closed around his arm and he was dragged off the bar stool. In his rather confused, somewhat drunken stupor, Tony fell against Loki on his way out to the dance floor. Loki caught him and, as they reached the floor, immediately led him into a spin. As soon as Tony regained his footing, he let go of Loki's hand and stepped away.

"I've no intention of sleeping—or, as it is, dancing—with the enemy, Loki, especially not one that threw me out a window." Tony began to walk back through the crowd, but Loki's hand closed around his wrist.

"And I'm to believe that was your phone I felt when you were back at the bar, Stark?" He pulled Tony close, speaking into his ear again as their bodies touched. "It seemed to me a lot like _intent._ Besides, the Tesseract incident was not the first time I wreaked havoc on your planet and I can't say it will be the last."

Tony pushed back as the tempo changed. They were moving rather fast through the crowd now as the beat picked up. "So you are up to something?"

"Oh, I certainly didn't say that." Another of Loki's smirks crawled wide across his face. As they reached the far edge of the dance floor, Loki spun Tony again and pressed their hips together, moving them with the beat.

"You didn't not say it either." Tony attempted to put distance between them as he tried to clear his head. The alcohol was certainly affecting him now, not to mention the dancing.

"Hmm, so what are you supposed to think?"

"You understand my confusion."

"Understand it? I _relish_ it." Tony closed his eyes as Loki's hand slid around to the small of his back, drawing them together again. "The great Iron Man done in by a few drinks and simple words."

"Is that your plan then? Take the Avengers out individually until you're free to _devour_ our planet?"

"Mmmmm." Loki pulled Tony around to corner into a deserted hallway. Tony was pressed up against the wall, Loki's hands on either side of his head. "I could settle for devouring _you_."

Loki's lips crashed into Tony's, pressing Tony harder into the wall. Tony's eyes went wide as he unsuccessfully tried to push Loki away.

"Loki! Someone—"

"What? Someone could see? What do you care? You've never been one to bother about what others think, especially these people. I saw your face before; you _hate_ them." Loki sneered. Tony reached up and untangled Loki's fingers from his hair.

"I was going to say," he said gently. "That someone was coming." Tony looked pointedly, albeit slightly sloppily, toward the other end of the hall. Right on cue was the sound of a glass breaking and heels scrambling back down the hall.

"Let's hope that wasn't our lovely blogger friend." Loki smirked. "Also, let's get out of here."

"And gahwhere?" Tony slurred. Somewhere in his mind, something was telling him this was a terrible idea. Unfortunately, and as usual, Tony had no interest in listening to it.

"Someplace more…" The space around them shifted until they were standing in front of a bed – Tony's bed. "Entertaining." Before Tony could fully process the change, Loki was pushing him down into his own sheets.

Tony shook his head, as if to clear it. The room would not stop spinning. Where had the hall gone? And what was he suddenly lying on? He looked closer and recognized his own bed. That last drink had certainly been a bad idea.

As Loki crawled onto the bed – and subsequently, onto Tony – he let his hand drag lazily up Stark's leg. Tony shivered, burying his hands under the sheets to keep himself from putting them on Loki. A deep chuckle sounded next to Tony's ear.

"Why fight it, Stark?" Loki touched a slender finger to Tony's dress shirt. Tony's eyes widened as the fabric slowly dissolved into a faint, green smoke. "Why fight _me_?"

"I—," Tony's breath hitched as Loki's finger lightly traced the arc reactor. Pale lips curled themselves into a sly grin before lowering to touch the cold metal of the arc reactor. Tony shivered. "I liked that shirt," he finally managed.

An almost inaudibly low chuckle left Loki's mouth. A cold finger traced the reactor once more before sliding down Tony's abdomen and tucking itself into the waistband of Tony's pants. Tony closed his eyes tightly and let his head fall back onto the pillows.

"My my, Stark. I'm almost disappointed in your lack of self-control." Loki's fingers curled themselves around Tony's waist as he brought their hips together. Tony shuddered, involuntarily bucking his hips upward. Loki moaned, his breath cold on Tony's ear. "_Almost_." Loki's teeth lightly grazed Tony's earlobe as he moved down to kiss the neck below. Tony squeezed his eyes shut again; the room refused to stop spinning. His fist opened and closed on the sheets. Loki shifted his weight, causing their hips to brush together again.

Suddenly Tony's hand was tangled in Loki's hair as he almost desperately pulled their faces together. Loki smirked into Tony's mouth, his hand moving to the small of Tony's back.

* * *

Light streamed into the bedroom as Tony rolled over with a loud groan. Dum-E rolled in slowly, a glass of water extended. With a sigh, Tony reached over the empty space beside him and took the glass.

"Thanks, Dum-E. Did the paper come yet?" Tony grumbled as he rubbed his eyes. As the robot nodded, Tony pulled himself out of bed, making an effort to ignore the emptiness it held.

_What does it matter? _He thought to himself. _It's not like he had any obligation to stay. I certainly wouldn't have and I certainly didn't expect him to. He's the God of Mischief for fuck's sake, a wanted criminal. What the hell was I thinking? I mean, I wasn't of course._

His head pounding, Tony made his way to his kitchen where the paper waited on the counter. Sharp, elegant words graced a Post-It note above the headline.

"Word certainly travels fast when your name's involved." the beautiful script read. And smaller, underneath; "Seems our friend moved up in the world…" Tony lifted it, making the headline visible. "Billionaire Playboy Widens the Playing Field – Who is the Mystery Man?"

Beneath, next to the author's name, lay a small photo of the woman Loki rejected for Tony the night before; followed by a lovely, above-the-fold photo of Tony practically being pinned to the wall by an unidentifiable, dark-haired gentleman. Tony remembered the footsteps he heard just before they left the party.

"Dammit, Loki." Tony swore. He knew he had a reputation of doing what – or who – he wanted, but he did still have a company to run; he usually attempted to keep the more risqué encounters somewhat discreet.

He took the Post-It into his hand again as a thought crossed his mind. He glanced at the clock; the paper could have only arrived 20 minutes ago, at most. For Loki to have written this note, he would have had to stay until morning.

Tony was surprised to find a small smile grace his lips before a feeling of dread hit him hard in the stomach. This was Loki he was thinking about. _S.H.E.I.L.D.s most wanted villain._ What was he _doing_?

* * *

**There will be plot after this, I swear. **

**And tears. **

**You've been warned.**

**Reviews are loved. C:**


	2. Chapter 2

**Woot Woot! Chapter 2!**

**I should warn you guys not to get your hopes up for fast updates though. My updates get crazy irregular.**

**On another note, thanks for reading! I hope you're enjoying it! Feel free to leave some feedback. C:**

* * *

A pained and desperate shout resonated through the top floor of Stark Tower, startling Tony down in his workshop.

"Jarvis?" Tony questioned his AI system.

"It would appear Mr. Laufeyson is bleeding out on your sofa, sir." A security feed popped up on the monitor in front of Tony. The dark figure onscreen seemed to flicker in and out of existence, almost as if having difficulty holding on to its location. A dark red stain was crawling its way across the couch.

"What an inconsiderate, little –!" But Tony was already across his workroom, grabbing a towel from where he usually stored rags for grease. He gave it a quick examination – yeah, it was clean – before sprinting upstairs.

* * *

"S-Stark!" Loki gripped the back of the couch, his pale knuckles somehow even paler.

"What the hell happened?" Tony rushed out of the elevator, towel in hand. Inwardly, he sighed in relief that at least Loki wasn't flickering anymore; he seemed solidly present. Tony immediately stopped and wondered what the hell he was thinking. Loki was a complete psychopath; Tony had every reason to want this man, or god, to die right here. They had been searching for him for 6 weeks, ever since Thor had returned to Earth with news that Loki had escaped his Asgardian prison – the day after Loki and Tony had slept together. The search had been a serious difficulty. Loki didn't seem to mind when a prank of his destroyed a building or put other people in danger, as long as he got a laugh out of it. The Avengers had been on nearly constant patrolling shifts for weeks. As it was, this was the first time Tony was off patrol in 57 hours; he was exhausted, even if it had been quiet for the last eight days or so…

"I am in need of your assistance." Loki's voice weakly broke into Stark's thoughts. Tony rolled his eyes.

"That's fairly evident, although it's good to know that you'd rather die than simply _ask_." Still, Tony's only first aid experience was on himself when he was too lazy to go to the hospital after a battle and he certainly had no idea what sort of damage Loki's body could take before it shut down. On the other hand, he supposed it would suck to have to explain to Thor how his little brother bled to death on Tony's couch while he did nothing to help. Decidedly, he pressed the towel to Loki's abdomen.

A low hiss escaped from Loki's lips as gestured at something with his left hand. Tony noticed a dark, jagged piece of metal protruding from the god's side. He lightly touched a finger to it, causing Loki to flinch.

"This is going to have to come out, Loki…" Stark knew that much. The Asgardian nodded, his teeth clenched tightly. Without giving Loki the chance to object, Tony wrenched the object free of the god's body. He tossed it aside as Loki let out a deafening yell and lost his grip on the couch, causing him to slide into Tony.

"Oh, Christ." Tony maneuvered Loki back onto the couch and pressed the towel back to the wound. Loki did his best to smother a pained groan. "Shouldn't you be healing?"

"I used too much – nngh – too much energy to t-travel out of there."

"Out of where?" Tony pressed, but he could tell the other was losing consciousness fast. That wasn't good. Who the hell knew how he would fair then?

"Y'know, you never did call me back after that night. I thought we got on pretty well." Tony joked in an effort to get a response, any response, out of the trickster. Loki managed a short, low chuckle, but quickly drifted into unconsciousness. "Shit." The elevator opened to reveal a flustered Pepper, a stack of documents in her hand.

"Why can't you answer your phone just once, Tony? These needed your signature last w— OHMYGOD!" Ms. Potts cried.

"Pepper! Bandages, now!"

"B-but that's…That's—!" She stuttered.

"I know very well who it is, Pepper! Please, get me some bandages! And a first aid kit." Tony said calmly. Finally, she obliged. Swiftly and efficiently, Tony treated the wound as best he could. It was wide, but not as deep as he originally thought.

"Pepper, I'm going to need you to put pressure on this while I wrap it up," Tony said. Pepper stared at him, eyes wide.

"But, I—"

"Pepper, please!" Stark cried. Reluctantly, she pressed a hand to the cloth Tony had covered the gash with, wincing as some blood seeped through. She jumped away as soon as Tony finished dressing it, spreading her bloodstained fingers in front of her. "Pepper, I—"

"I don't even want to know." She cut him off. "Just promise me I won't ever have to do something like that again."

"Always do." Tony answered with a huge grin.

"Good. Now, Mr. Stark, I'm going to go wash my hands and those papers had better be signed when I get back."

* * *

Tony stood in front of the sofa, outright staring at Loki as he slept. What the hell was he supposed to do with him?

Scratch that. He knew perfectly well what he was supposed to do with him. He should be calling SHIELD right now. He should be turning this psychopath in front of him over to the authorities while he was down.

Right. So why was he carrying Loki to the closest guest bedroom instead?

Tony managed to lift Loki with surprisingly little difficulty. Under all of his usual leather, now tattered and bloody, the Asgardian seemed thin, delicate almost. As he reached the room, Tony gently laid Loki on the bed before wrestling with the god's unconscious body in an effort to liberate it from the long, uncomfortable-looking jacket. Finally successful, Tony stepped back; his gaze fixed on the trickster's sleeping form.

Loki _was_ thin. Like, really thin.

Tony could see his ribs jutting out under the thin fabric of his shirt. And his wrists – which looked fragile enough to snap in a breeze – were so pale, they seemed blue. His dark hair was short and messy, almost as if it had been haphazardly chopped off. It made him look strangely innocent as it fell over his eyes. He had certainly changed drastically since the last time he had been in Stark Tower.

So, what had happened? The last confirmed sighting of Loki had been just over a week ago, and he definitely hadn't looked like this. Where had he gone? _And for how long?_

* * *

"Jarvis, scan this and give me an exploded view." Tony held out the piece of metal he had removed from Loki's side. A holographic replication of the object appeared in front of him.

"Exploded view unavailable, sir. It does not match any metal known to Earth," the computer replied. Tony had figured as much. He had spent the past few days running it though every test he could think of. It was nothing he had ever seen. It was thin, thinner than he would have thought possible considering how durable it had proven to be. It was nearly as indestructible as the Captain's shield; and yet, this was clearly just a fragment of something. Whatever had broken it had to have had some serious power behind it.

"Cross-analyze it with any files we've managed to pinch from SHIELD." He had a hunch. After a moment, something beeped.

"Partial match found, sir." A photo of a Chitauri appeared on the screen followed by large, red words – PLANET: UNKNOWN. Blueprints of whichever weapons SHIELD managed to salvage during the aliens' invasion spread out before Tony. "It would seem some Chitauri weapons found show fractional uses of the unknown metal."

"AH-HAH!" Tony snapped and pointed at the screen excitedly.

"Also, Captain Rogers is upstairs, sir."

"Dammit!" The absolute last thing he needed was to have Rogers see Loki in his apartment.

* * *

As Tony reached the top of the stairs, he caught Steve pushing open the door of the guest room.

"What's up, Capsicle?" Stark blurted, maybe a little too loudly. Steve jumped.

"Oh! Tony! Sorry, I thought I heard you in there." He pointed needlessly at the bedroom.

"Probably just Dum-E messing something up. Want a drink?" Tony asked quickly. He went to the bar to pour a drink, hoping Steve would follow. He did, although he raised an eyebrow.

"It's one in the afternoon." Rogers pointed out. Stark looked at him for a solid minute before shrugging and tossing his scotch back. "So! What did you need?"

"I think we should postpone Thor's birthday celebration until we track down Loki." A low thump came from the spare room and Tony would have sworn the door opened a little more.

"Steve!" Stark cried, dragging his attention away. "It's the guy's _birthday!_ You can't reschedule that. Besides, it's been pretty quiet lately; one night of festivities isn't going to destroy the world."

"Technically, we don't know what exact day Thor's birthday is because he's not from Earth; he doesn't live by our calendar." Steve objected. "And it's been quiet for so long, I can't help but feel that Loki is up to something; something big."

"Nonono." Tony shook his head. "Thor is a _prince_ from _outer space_ and instead of living it up at a lavish Asgardian party like he should be, he's here on Earth helping us out."

"You just want a reason to throw a ridiculous party," Steve protested.

"You are completely correct. I'll see you tomorrow night." Tony knocked back another shot. Steve sighed, knowing there would be no reasoning with Stark on this. Silently, he left the apartment.

As soon as he was gone, Tony rushed into the bedroom. Empty. What the actual hell? Tony had saved his life, no questions asked (or answered, really), had changed his bandages over the last few days, hid him from SHIELD, and the bastard leaves without a single word. In fact, he hadn't even left the room since he had been there; the only way Tony could tell he was alive was when the plates of food he left were empty when he returned for them. And now Loki was gone. Not even a note this time.

This was the absolute _worst_ 'thank you' in the history of 'thank you's.

* * *

**Stupid fuckin' Tony.**

**Seriously though, Steve is the _only_ person who would hear something in a bedroom and think it's totally justified to walk in and make sure things are okay. hahahah**

**Thank you for reading! Your feedback is much appreciated. :D **


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